The traditional and well-known telephone company provided directory assistance service allows a caller to call a directory assistance operator and request a telephone number of a person to be contacted. If the requested telephone number is listed, the directory assistance operator vocally communicates the telephone number to the caller. The caller then writes down the telephone number, hangs up, and dials the telephone number. However, if the telephone number is unlisted, the directory assistance operator so informs, vocally, the caller. Thus, the caller hangs up without being able to obtain the telephone number of the person to be contacted who, in turn, receives no notification that the caller wishes to contact him or her by phone.
Nynex Corporation, a Regional Bell Operating Company, is testing a service that for the first time would allow callers to leave taped messages for people who prefer to keep their telephone number off the books. People who call directory assistance and are told the number is unlisted will hear a recorded voice giving them the option of leaving a message. Customers with unlisted numbers will have the option of refusing all incoming messages. Nynex plans to charge the caller for leaving the message.
Airtouch Cellular, a subsidiary of Pacific Telesis which is a Regional Bell Operating Company, will begin offering Airtouch 411 Connect, a new option for directory assistance. Airtouch 411 Connect eliminates the need to write down a phone number received from directory assistance, and to hang up and dial the phone number. Airtouch 411 Connect directory assistance operators will provide you with the phone number of businesses or individuals, and will then directly connect you to the requested phone number.
Calling Number Delivery, sometimes referred to as "Caller ID" or "Caller Identification", is presently being offered to telephone customers, in appropriately forty-one (41) states, on a subscription basis, and is restricted to local calls only. However, starting in 1995, Calling Number Delivery will become a national service and will not be restricted to just local calls. Basically, this service allows a called party premises equipment to receive and display a calling party's directory telephone number from a local switching office during a silent interval between the first and the second ringing signals, which gives the called party an opportunity to decide whether to answer the incoming call. The generic requirements for Calling Number Delivery are described in Bell Communications Research (Bellcore) Technical References TR-TSY-000031, issue 2, June 1988, TA-NWT-000030, issue 2, September 1991, and TA-TAP-01004, issue 1, November 1989.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a calling party with a service which allows the calling party to call a directory assistance operator, request a phone number of a person to be contacted and asks that the call be completed automatically.
It is another object of this invention to provide a person to be contacted with a service which discloses to the person to be contacted a directory telephone number with a corresponding name (DN) of a calling party who calls a directory assistance operator, requests a phone number of the person to be contacted and asks that the call be completed automatically.